Welcome to my blog, I'll be updating this when I have time, it's going to be about whatever is on my mind. Could be stories, revelations, words of wisdom or just whatever. I hope it inspires, blesses and informs you.
Finally, after about a week of resting and procrastination, I decided to sit down and write about the Real Estate Expo.
So we got to New York, went straight to Sharayah's Church where the guys were staying over night, then dropped the girls stuff off at her house. Then we went to New York, to the Jacob Javitz Center where the Learning Annex was hosting the New York Real Estate Expo. We got there a little late due to lack of time and some traffic issues, including a not so successful U-Turn on one of the busiest streets downtown, but it all worked out, we had our training session which was interesting, but at least for me, not that helpful. We were split up into our different areas of service, I was in Product, which meant I moved boxes of the speakers product to different classrooms and to the product tables in the main room. It was a pretty simple job, pick this up, move it over there.
It was definately nicer than some other people jobs, like the girls who did sales and had to deal with cranky people, credit cards and answering questions they barely knew about product they just got. So compared to some of the girls, I had a cushy, low-pressure job. Which was fine with me.
The next day when we actually started working, it took us 2 hours to drive 30 miles because traffic was bad, we got there at almost 11 am and worked till 10-10:30 pm. So it was a late night, we got home and had dinner at almost 12 am. Then the next day we were up at 4:30 am so we could get there to start at 6:30 am, that day we worked till 10:30ish as well, so it was a really long day for all of us.
Besides the other guys working product with me, I didn't get to see anybody that often, so it was always really exciting when we got to deliver boxes to a table where people we knew were working, that made it fun.
Overall, it was a very interesting experience. I've been to many christian conferences where they have speakers and people worship God and get all excited about Him, but this was like the complete opposite. This conference was all about getting rich quick. It was so, over-the-top selfish, it was really a strange feeling, to see 15,000 jumping up and down, giving each other hugs, hooting and hollering, all for the sake of self and riches.
At one point, during Marshall Sylvers(a hypnotist) session, I felt the overwhelming grief of the Holy Spirit as Sylver presented a counterfeit move of the the Spirit and talked about the power of self and doing whatever it takes to be rich, successful or whatever. It was all about manipulation and control of self and others, it was really so, so sad.
There were some half-decent speakers, most of them were so humanistic it was hard to get alot out of what they spoke, but some were at elast fun to watch, like Tony Robbins, he got everybody so pumped up, it was funny to watch 15,000 peole run around and hug each other. I also learned a few good tips on real estate and investing, although I'm not sure how much of it translates to Canada and the laws and regulations we have, oh well.
As much as it was humanistic and all about self, I did get some really great things out of it. For example, it was awesome just to be there and serve, the managers could really tell that we were there to work, it was a blessing to the people around us. I learned about the weakness of man, how these people were so desperate for wealth, success and fame, that they would put their trust in man and in themselves. In a kind of weird way, it was almost exciting as I saw the hunger of these people for something true, I knew that God offered so much more, that He could fulfill them way beyond their expectations. It was also good going to learn how to put on a seminar as I believe we are going to be doing that next semester, you learn some good tips that will help streamline your own event after watching things at this one, so it was actually really good going. The best part of it is, even if I didn't learn anything, if I had nothing positive to say, we knew that that was where God wanted us, that He arranged for us to be there, so it was awesome to just be able to be obedient and do what he wanted. That's what it's all about anyways, whether or not we see any fruit at the moment, who knows what seeds were planted in people, who knows what he was preparing us for. Maybe someday some of us students will be speaking at a conference at the very same building and we were just there to begin to prepare the place for that event. Who knows, with God it's limitless.
Sorry it's taken so long to write, unfortunately this isn't going to be an amazing entry, instead, it's a short and sweet post to appease my demanding public.
It's been a long last week, with the Trump conference and traveling home, but I finally got back to Abbotsford, B.C. Canada last night at about 8:00 pm PST. It was definately a long haul, especially with two stopovers, it tends to lengthen one's trip.
Anyways, I'm still real tired, so I'm heading to bed but I wanted to let you all know I am still going to update you on the Trump conference, but after that, I likely won't write much if any until I go back to school.
If any of you are reading this and from my area, give me a call, talk to my secretary, we'll see if we can work something out.
So, eagerly await whatever is next. If you feel like it.
Last night we stopped in Hopkinton, Massachusetts at a Vineyard Church where they fed us an amazing dinner which included some homemade lasagne, definately a crowd pleaser. That night Ken talked a bit about prophetic evangelism, did some dream interpretations from up front and then we broke up into teams and gave people words, kind of like a Salem format. It was really good, it was super easy, very refreshing. I think it was so good for us to start doing this kind of thing at Claremont and at Salem, where the spiritual climate was very different, it was alot harder to get words when we were there. But here at the church, where people want it, and are already seeking after God, where we don't have to set the atmosphere with intercession, it's already there, it's so much easier to receive revelation and to just pray through it all when you are in that kind of an enviroment which is so open to whatever the Holy Spirit wants to do.
Today we got to New York, we went straight to Sharayah's church, "The Lighthouse", from there we dropped the girls stuff off at Sharayah's then we rushed as fast as our little vans could take us to New York City for our training session. We arrived a fashionable 45 minutes late due to traffic and due to simply not having enough time.
You know all the things they say about New York? Well it's true, I even saw steaming manhole covers, I'll be honest, I always wanted to see steaming manhole covers, I mean, I seen them on TV and all, but steaming manhole covers is not something common to the thriving metropolis of Abbotsford. Anyways, moving on.
I never realized how big of a deal this conference was, untilI saw some of the big names coming, like Tony Robbinson, that guy you always see on TV, with his book "Natural cures the governement doesn't want you to know." Also there will be the obvious highlight, the Mad Money guy, yeah that's right, Jim Cramer himself, I sure hope he brought along his sound effects... Well I won't bore you with any more details, mostly because I don't know them.
But you can go to www.learningannex.com there is probably info and pictures of the conference there. I don't have my computer here so I'll put up pictures later if all goes well.
I got to go to bed now, tonight is probably the most sleep I'm going to get before I go home, so I think I'm going to take advantage of it. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me, I don't think I'll answer them though because I won't have time or feel like it. However, I would take the time to read and maybe respond to any comments you leave, you oughtto know by now how much I appreciate them.
If all goes well, I've got a few ideas to sell to Donald Trump, I'm fairly convinced I can double his profits with an invention I have, I won't say what until the patent comes, but let's just say it will dramatically affect the amount of trash and mice in New York City, we'll see though...
It's been hitting me recently how little time I have left. You'd think I'd have clued in by now, seeing how by this time next week, my flight will just be arriving home in Abbotsford. We are officially done classes, we had this morning off to sleep in and to start cleaning up our rooms. Tomorrow we have the morning off to pack up as well. We are leaving for New York tomorrow early afternoon so pretty much I'm packing a bag to take to New York, then I'll pack the rest to be ready for when I come home to go again. I've also been cleaning up all my stuff, and just making my room generally even more amazing.
Not only that, adding to the reality of the shortness of this semester is the number of student impartations we had the last week or so. We had a lot and it was really awesome to hear everybody's heart on all this different things. It was cool had God spoke to everyone so differently in what to share. It was always so perfect, what everyone had to say was so unique and refreshing.
I've really felt so humble in the last few days with all these people sharing. Some people have these amazing passions for different things, others have had some really hard times that God has brought them through. But in all of those, I just feel so honoured to live with and grow with these people. Makes me so much more grateful that I am where God has placed me, it reminds me of what Ali said "How is it, that all these amazing people are all here at this time." Sometimes we take God's order for granted, but every move is orchestrated carefully and perfectly. There's no way we could improve on God's order, as much as we might know that in our head, sometimes in a given moment, it's almost overwhelming to think that everything you've ever done in your life has led up to this particular moment. Shouldn't that make every moment all the more significant? If we start to truly realize how divinely our steps are ordered, we should be thanking God for every step and moment because He has us there for whatever reason we don't always know.
In this last week I'm really trying to suck everything up, trying to get all that I can before I go. I'll be home for a month and a half, and then I'm coming back for another six months. I'm really looking forward to going home and visiting people, but I'm pretty sure I'll be looking forward to coming back and seeing everybody as well. Especially after sleeping in my own room by myself for 6 weeks, who knows, I could get lonely after 3 months of sharing a room with 3 other guys. (But I don't think it's likely...lol)
This is likely the last time I'll write for a bit, I don't know if I'll have any internet access when I'm gone, so we'll see. But I'll do my best to update you at least after I get back, I'll be sleepy eyed and maybe not even coherent, but hey, it's an update at least right? I thought I'd throw in some pictures of a few projects I was given to work on recently. One is a newspaper article poster I made for Pastor Phil from the Gathering in Salem. The other is a graphic for our Salem Testimonies which we'll be bringing home. Please keep us all in your prayers as we are off on our last trip of the semester. I put a basic schedule below so you can track us with your prayers.
Thurs, Nov. 16 Depart from girls house, arrive in Hopkinton MA Minister at church in the evening.
Fri, Nov. 17 Get to New York 2 pm. Training session for conference 5-6 pm
Sat & Sun, Nov. 18-19 Very long days expected at conference
Mon, Nov. 20 Sleep in. Little bit of sight seeing Minister at Lighthouse Church in New York Leave for home at 11 pm
Tues, Nov. 21 Get home early early morning Sleep. Pack-up Commencement Dinner
Wedns, Nov 22 I'm getting up to leave by around 5-5:30 am get back to Abbotsford around 8 pm.
Oh and before I go, here's a link to all my movies on YouTube It may be hard to appreciate them fully, not having been here and knowing all the people, but feel free to check 'em out anyways.
How about a recap of the last few days, alrighty then, well let's start with a lesson I learned on Sunday.
Once upon a time in place far far away from his home land... Well maybe I won't be quite so dramatic. On Sunday, I was listed as a substitue for prophetic teams at the Bridge Church here in New London. I was quite relieved to just be a substitute because I really wasn't feeling the whole, being on a ministry team deal, especially not that day. Just before I left for church, Jon Bohy, who was supposed to be one of the team leaders asked if I could replace him, he wasn't going to church. So all of a sudden I went from not being on a team, to being the team leader! I had thought that I could handle being on a team, but to be the team leader was totally unexpected and quite frankly, not appreciated. So I complained a little, mostly to myself, then during worship, I got convicted for having such a poor attitude towards what I supposed to do that day. I realized that God had set me up. He knew that I didn't feel like being on a team, I didn't feel particularily holy that day and I didn't feel confident to lead a team. So I decided to bite the bullet and figured well, it must be God because I really don't feel like it, so He's going to have to do it all.
So after the service, when we broke up into our teams I was able to come with at least a good attitude, I still certainly didn't feel holy or very prophetic that morning. I was on a team with Danielle (South Carolina) and Matt (New Jersey) and it was just perfect. We had such a good team, everything flowed really easily. I found it so much different doing a team like this rather than in Salem. The words came so much easier, we didn't have to fight for it and interceed at the same time like we did in Salem. We had 5 people that day and it was just really good. God has a way of surprising you and pulling you through when you really really don't feel like it.
God really convicted me that day on my attitude towards doing what He wants. I thought I knew how to maintain a fairly decent attitude regardless of what I was doing, but I'm realizing more and more that our attitude is so often affected because we feel like God wants us to do things. But not really so, all he really wants is us to show up, He wants to do things through us. All God wanted me to do was to show up to what was asked of me, and then He would take me through the rest, I didn't have to worry, but if we are not going to have a good attitude or let Him do it, we can't expect it to go well.
This semester is drawing to a close, but the Lord is still doing big things, I can really feel an anticipation in my spirit for what's going to come next. I have no idea what's coming or what God wants to do in this last week, but I'm even really looking forward to when I go home, there's no reason for me to believe that God doesn't move just as much at home. It's easy to get caught up into a mindset that God moves more powerfully in an enviroment like this where there are so many prophetic people and people who are really going after God passionatly, but He wants to move just as powerfully right in your home.
Sorry I have to cut this short, I made a mistake on when we are going to leave this morning and I have to go make me a lunch in 5 minutes.
It's been a while, maybe a little too long, I was thinking about it, wondering why I didn't feel like posting, and I realized I don't feel like anything interesting has been happening. Then I realized, that interesting things are happening, but when I compare them to events like Salem or something where I have too much to write about, well, it's just not the same. So here is a non-exciting but still interesting entry.
Let me get into this by first saying how disapointed I am in the good 'ole Vancouver Canucks. Luke (Alberta), Jamie (Alberta), Micah (Here) and myself went over to the Coopers house to watch my home team, and kind of Luke's go at it with Jamie's. Even after a 2-0 lead for the Canucks, they couldn't hold it and lost 3-2. So now, no thanks to the Canucks, I owe Jamie lunch. Serves me right, I suppose, for betting. But it seemed so right at the time...
In the last week, we have been having a lot of student impartations as we kind of rush to get them all in before this semester is up. We missed quite a few of them earlier because of different things we had going on, so now we are making up for lost time. So it's kinda nice, I've really been enjoying hearing what the students all have to share, it's awesome hearing their passions, what's on their hearts and what they've been learning. I think tonight we have Jody (Michigan), David (Scotland) and Anthony (Virginia) so it ought to be a real treat!
It's going to be a good week, I'm sure it's going to pass very quickly, especially with us going to New York, thursday after classes, we get home from New York on tuesday afternoon and I'm leaving at like 5:30 am on wednsday to go back to my home on the west coast. So I'm sure I'll be pretty beat after this trip, maybe I can catch soe sleep on the plane, but with two stopovers on a 6 hour flight, I doubt I'll be able to do much sleeping. But that's what you get when you search online for the cheapest flights. Two stopovers.
I have to head off to church pretty quick, so I better go make myself presentable, I'll do my best to keep updating you all on the maybe not impressive but most certainly news worthy things that will happen this week.
Not a lot to write about today. It's tuesday, we are just getting back into the swing of things. We had an awesome 4 day break which was so needed, but I was sure ready to get back into a routine!
We found out about an outreach we are going to be doing in the end of this trimester, which is getting closer and closer, something like, two weeks left. We are going to be heading to New York City, we are going to be working at a Donald Trump conference. It sounds like we are going to be really busy there, not much time to see any sights, but it'll be a cool thing to be involved with for sure! Who knows, maybe we can set-up a dream tent for the business men! I don't really know what to expect, and will Donny even be coming? I hope so, just so I can get fired by him. If all goes well...
I felt like I hadn't written an update in a while, which is true, but I probably shouldn't have chosen now to do it as I got very little sleep last night. I had a terrible ear-infection which kept me up past 4, so I'm sorry if this isn't up to my strict quality standards.
What else can I say? I gotta give props to Jamie for making all them videos, without a fellow canadian like him, well, none of that would be possible. So, thanks Jamie. Well that's finally out of the way, so I attatched a video to the bottom here of Good 'Ole Chad cooking up a delicious treat. Did he share any? No. But it's OK, I'm not bitter or anything...
I woke up today to a good inch of snow on the ground. Kind of a nice welcome sight, a surprise for sure after the warm day we had yesterday. But it's pretty much all gone by now anyways. I cleaned up my room. Did some laundry, helped facilitate a roommate change. Matt (North Carolina) my now former roommate, switched with Brandon (Alberta) because Brandon has a tough time going up and down the stairs since he broke his foot in Salem this weekend. But that's a whole other story in itself. So, I thought I should get writing while it's still all fresh, we'll see how much I do at this sitting, I tend to get carried away when I'm writing, I write too much too fast and pretty soon I just get sick of writing and cut it off. This time, I'm hoping I can pace myself a little better...
Salem was amazing, I am so changed. I never considered myself a christian who was caught up in religiousness, but after these last two trips to Salem, I discovered I am now far-less religious than ever! I'll try to break it down for you, we were all scheduled to be at different places at different times, but the whole schedule thing was highly organic. As much as we tried to follow it, often we'd get called to help in other areas. It worked out really well as long as you were prepared to be flexible.
For those four days my schedule was: 2-4 pm - Working the Free Hot Cocoa booth 4-6 pm - On a team at the fountain location 6-8 pm - Watchman/Intercessor at the fountain 8-10 pm - Host at the fountain
Often when I was a watchman I'd be pulled onto a team and sometimes I ended up hosting at the bank instead, you know, everyone just pitches in when needed. Sometimes the lines would all of sudden die at the fountain and they would be really long at the bank. So we'd have to always be forming new teams and cutting down. You know, just being all organic like.
It was a very busy weekend with us starting our schedule at 2 pm, but before that we'd be setting up the tents and hot dog stand, etc...
My goodness, I'm having a brain fart, too much to write, I don't know where to go from here...
Hmmm...Well, lessee...
How about some of my highlights...
Highlight #1
I was on a team with Kelly and Jamie one night and we had young guy, Tony, come sit down, he had a dream of king made out of stone and fire with a sword of fire in his hand hovering above his bed. He woke up into another dream where he was in a church, and he had a cross burned on his chest. There were other people wtih crosses on their chests as well and they were all preparing for battle. The metaphors in this dream were so obvious it was hard for us to contain ourselves. Tony already had the basic idea that this King wanted him to join him and fight with him. So we explained who that king was, that it was Jesus and we made an opportunity for him. After he invited the King to be a part of his life, we explained basically that the Holy Spirit was given to us to dwell with us. And did he want that? Then we told him how he doesn't have to live with the darkness that he said he had, that God wanted to deliver him from that. So basically that night Tony got saved, filled with the spirit and delivered from oppressions.
I've never seen someone just get it so fast, I was talking to him later and he was saying, "yup, I'm a son of God now!" He had such a grasp of sonship so immediately! We didn't have to barely tell him anything, he just wanted God, he said he was going to stop hanging around with bad influences, we introduced him to Pastor Phil from the Gathering and Tony was just all around excited about what just happened. He said he felt way better, and lighter... It was really amazing and encouraging.
Highlight #2
Right after we had Tony, we had two witch friends and their young daughter and grand daughter. We just loved on them and gave them the encouraging words God gave us for them. At the end they were totally blown away, they kept telling us how accurate we were and all the things that were going on in their lives that corresponded with what we said. They were really blessed and encouraged by our words. Jamie even got to give all the glory to God, saying it wasn't us who was giving these words.
These two witches did this kind of thing as well, but it was really encouraging for us to have them so blessed, feel so loved and for them to tell us how accurate we were.
Highlight #3
On our last day there, I got my first chance to lead a team with Caleb (Alberta) and Claire (England). The first couple we had were so open to what we had to say, we were right on with our words to the lady. The guy had some spiritual experiences he was wondering about, for example he would feel his hands vibrating sometimes, he didn't know what it meant, he didn't know if he should be worried or not. He said when he was sitting there that it was happening just then too. So we explained to him how that was God trying to get his attention, how sometimes the body has a physical reaction to the spiritual presence of God.
This guy was so ready. He even said to us "I just feel like I need to be where you guys are at." This guy and his girlfriend both got saved and filled with the spirit, and he said he felt better, like different and better.
It was so amazing, I've never had opportunities like this in my life to lead people to the Lord like the testimonies I just shared, so encouraging! The lady just kept telling us that she just felt so much peace around us, and we were explaining to her that one of God's names is the prince of Peace and that it was now a promise for her to take hold of.
It was awesome to have people comment on how much they felt at peace and felt love when they were around us. Such a testimony of the presence of God there.
Highlight #4 This doesn't start out as a highlight, but there were a bunch of other Christians who go out to these types of events and basically preach at people and tell them to repent and be saved or they are going to hell. They were there walking around with their signs and loudspeakers, handing out tracts, pretty much the whole time we were there. Needless to say at this type of event, it tended to often cause conflict. We witnessed many a shouting match and arguments over whether or not people were sinning etc.
I'll be honest, it was really really hard for me to keep my heart right towards these fellow Christians who were trying to tell people about God without much love.
One of the nights there was quite a conflict they had with Shawn, a black witch who heads up the psychic fair with another witch called Christian. The Christians tried to forcibly exorcise Lila, who Shawn says is the best psychic at the fair. What's cool is that Shawn's response was to call pastor Phil and get the monks to come. Pastor Phil has spent alot of time developing relationships with the witches, neo-pagans, wiccans, whoever down there. And they know his heart for them. The monks are some of the people who were working the confessional booth, and they got in there and helped calm everyone down and escorted them to the Gathering. It was a healing time for Shawn especially, he was a former christian, but basically felt that in his times of trouble he was left out to dry by Jesus. He, Christian and Lila stayed for a while at the gathering, Christian eventually left with Lila, but Shawn ended up staying till 1:30 am with the guys at the church just talking to us. One of the most profound comments he made to us is "You guys here, you guys are Jesus." He said that we were true Christians. He just really enjoyed talking to us and being with us. He said never in his life did he ever expect to be in church with 30 christian guys on Halloween Eve at midnight.
It was an amazing time. Pastor Phil has spent so much time and sacrificed to so much to be with the people he's called to. And we got to witness some of the fruits of it. Like Shawn, for instance, a guy who travels all around the world training people in witchcraft and makes a ton of money, that night especially he had a visible perspective shift, that not all Christians were the same. It was such an honour for all of us to be able to come and help Phil pull in the harvest. He's been so faithful working out there, I constantly felt like I wasn't worthy to be there. I kept telling people, "Who gets to do this stuff? Who gets to give prophetic words to people, lead them to the Lord, love them like they've never received before, get to chill with and have a witch king open up his heart to you?"
That just doesn't happen to Christians. I'm totally wrecked for having a normal christian life. I feel like I've finally started to find out what normal Christianity should be. There are so many stories of salvations, of people who received emotional healing, and countless people who were just encouraged and loved.
I wish I could step back and see the big picture of what happened at Salem this year. So many lives were changed, so many people have a new hunger to find truth. So many people will never be the same. None of us interns will ever be the same. It was such an eye opener for all us. It's hard to know if the greater work was done by God through each of us, or in each of us. I need a writing break. Please please please, As much as I have been practicing the prophetic lately, I can't read your minds. So please leave a comment below, let me know what you think, if you have any questions, or want to know more about something. I will try to write more later and maybe throw up some more pictures. But until then...
Some Videos
Some of the crowd near our tent by the fountain.
Jamie and Anthony performing a live song to attract people
A little tour of Salem before it got busy
A guy who stood in front of the store and scared people all weekend.
Hey all, well I'm sure you are all curious as to how the last 4ish days went for us down in Salem. I just got back today, wednsday afternoon and I don't feel much like writing. So I thought I'd just let you all know it was amazing, God did so many awesome things in peoples lives, and it was pretty much the best weekend ever.
So I guess this is really just a teaser until probably tomorrow which is when I may feel like writing again. Only problem is, so many things happened, it's a daunting task to try to cover most of it. So we'll see.
I threw in a few pictures to pique your curiousity while you wait for my next entries.
Here's Jamie with a few of your friendly neighbourhood ghost-busters...
A big 'ole bat
A picture of myself hanging out with two of the most prominent witches in Salem.
And last but not least here's a video of a bit of the approx. 60-100,000 person crowd we encountered Halloween night.
